Rotterdam 360Âº Soundscapes (with noTours technology)

The work is a 360Âº soundscape of the city of Rotterdam. Audience can explore it while seated in a spinning chair because the playback changes depending on viewÂ´s orientation. It was built on Android and the code will be included in a future version of noTours. Enrique TomÃ¡s (the programmer, and the main Android/noTours software developer), has presented this work in Rotterdam on December 2009.

Enrique says:

During the last two months (October and November 2009) I enjoyed an Artist in Residence period at Foundation b.a.d. in Rotterdam.

For the final presentation I decided to show four new electronic compositions in an installation format . The particular interface that I did (a spinning chair) makes possible to enjoy a 360Âº degrees soundscape that changes with listenerÂ´s orientation. All the audio has 3D spatial properties due to the use of binaural and ambisonic recordings.

For the composition I recorded many hours at natural soundscapes of the city of Rotterdam. Each composition is about some aspect of the city (if you want to listen these four recordings, go to the author’s website)

NAME: Rotterdam SoundscapesDESCRIPTION: The work is a 360Âº soundscape of the city of Rotterdam. Audience can explore it while seated in a spinning chair because the playback changes depending on viewÂ´s orientation.MATERIALS: Spinning Chair, Headphones, Android Phone, Android Programming, Binaural RecordingsYEAR: 2009

About noTours

NoTours is a project by Escoitar.org that allows editing a place with sounds. This means that you can attach sounds to a territory and that later, when you go physically to that place you can listen to them. The trick is using our noTours Android Application that detects your location (via GPS) and plays your audios exactly in the place where you decided.

NoTours proposes an augmented aurality experience. In other words, you can add a new layer of reality to your place. You can leave messages, tell stories, create geolocated concerts or just share your thoughts.
The team of noTours.org is looking forward to know your ideas and your possible uses. In fact we are artists and developers. Take a look at some of the sound walks we have made in the world.